Stack Plus Wiring Question (50's or treble bleed)

clusterpluck

clusterpluck

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I have an 06 MIM Standard Strat with RW neck that has become my favorite all-purpose axe. No clue as to why, really, as I have other guitars that sound better, honestly, but this one is just the most comfortable. I acquired it in well-used condition and after recrowing the frets, I just fell in love with the feel of it. I had been using the standard ceramic pups in it, but I found them very noisey when I added any grit to them and I felt they never cleaned up very well. They were also not bright enough for my taste. I swapped to 50's wiring and fully shielded the body cavities and noted a little minor improvement, but nothing substantial. So, I tried to swap the pup magnets to Alnico 3s and got mixed results. I killed the bridge pup in the process, but the neck and middle pups ended up with a wonderful chimey vintage vibe to them and brightened up a bit, but the noise got worse when I added any fuzz or distortion. So, I added a Custom Stack Plus to the bridge (STK-S6) and man, I really like this pickup! It is dead quiet and still sounds like a strat should in my mind, but it lacks just a tad of the chimeyness that I like when played clean. So, as the noise on the other 2 pickups is really bothersome to me, I decided to order 2 Classic Stack Plus (STK-S4) pups for the neck and middle. I'm hoping they will be brighter and more vintage sounding than the Custom Stack while having the advantage of no noise.

Here's my question for anyone who may have tried both--should I keep the 50's wiring? Or, should I revert to the standard modern wiring recommended by SD, and perhaps add a treble bleed circuit to the volume cap? I have a 470 cap and a 220k resistor recommended by Mojotone to make the treble bleed and find this circuit works well with one of my Teles and my Carvin. I would just experiment, but it is such a PITA to do so on a Strat without wasting bunches of time and strings (and I've done more than I should have already on this particular one!).
 
Re: Stack Plus Wiring Question (50's or treble bleed)

bump--nobody? After playing with it last night I think I noted that the volume taper is kind of odd with the 50's wiring. I think I may go with the treble bleed for that reason and standard wiring.
 
Re: Stack Plus Wiring Question (50's or treble bleed)

I personally don't like the results of '50s tone in strats, at least with single coils. I find that it suits more humbuckers.
But, I have so much high end content with my singles that I don't feel myself in the need of a treble bleed mod.
 
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Re: Stack Plus Wiring Question (50's or treble bleed)

Thanks for the input. This strat is unusually dark for some reason. Or it could just be that I've been playing mt tele a lot lately and have become accustomed to a lot of brightness....
 
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